As President Obama was preparing to address a joint session of Congress to propose the $447 billion American Jobs Act, Energy Secretary Steven Chu was busy announcing a series of financing initiatives aimed at spurring clean energy research, commercial development and job creation. Included was nearly $15 million of financial support for 16 projects in 24 states and the District of Columbia “to accelerate the adoption of electric vehicles (EV) across the nation, and seven additional projects in seven states to help prepare college students for careers designing and building advanced vehicle technologies,” the DOE announced yesterday. The DOE’s Clean Cities Initiative will adminster $8.5 million of awards that support community planning for EVs by facilitating local public-private partnerships aimed at developing EV deployment strategies. Communities that have built up exte...